‘How about I try clapping?’ he suggested.
‘Okay.’ Peyton tried to keep the dejection out of her voice and failed.
He gave three loud claps then and Peyton watched as her daughter startled and swiftly turned her head in the direction of the offending noise.
Everything stopped in that moment as a gasp tore from Peyton’s throat and hot tears welled in her eyes. She’dheard!McKenzie had reallyheard. After three years of living in a world where no noise existed, McKenzie could actuallyhear.
7
If someone had asked Peyton to describe the emotion threatening to drown every cell in her body, she would have been incapable. She was totally overwhelmed. It was a miracle.
Amiracle.
Valentino grinned at McKenzie. ‘Hello,’ he signed and spoke. ‘Did you hear that?’ He clapped again and said, ‘Clapping.’
McKenzie swivelled her head to look at her mother. The expression on her face waspriceless. Pure wonderment. She pointed to Valentino and clapped and startled again, clearly surprised that her own hands had made a noise.
Peyton laughed through spilling tears, dashing them away with the backs of her hands as quickly as they fell. Her daughter looked like she’d just invented clapping. Like she was the only person on earth who could do it!
And Peyton knew exactly how she felt.
‘Well, I think that was fairly definite, yes?’ Valentino smiled.
Peyton nodded wildly, even though her face was threatening to crumple. Her deaf daughter could hear. It was simply the most amazing thing she’d ever witnessed. Even though she’dbeen present through so many activations in her two years with Harry, this time beat all.
She rose from her chair and in two paces she was picking McKenzie up, kissing her face, rocking from side to side. She wanted to spin and twirl, dance like a mad thing, but was aware of the cord attaching McKenzie to the laptop.
McKenzie, fully into the celebration, rocked enthusiastically and giggled, holding tight to her mother’s neck, enjoying the ride. Peyton laughed too, giddy with joy and hope, lighter than air.
‘It’s amazing,’ she declared, kissing McKenzie’s temple. ‘Amazing, amazing, amazing!’
He chuckled. ‘Yes, it is.’
Peyton slowed and pulled McKenzie against her for a long hard hug, watching Valentino watch them, his smile huge, his dimples ridiculous. His long, bronzed fingers rested against the keyboard. Fingers that had given the gift of hearing to her daughter.
‘Thank you, Valentino. Thank you,’ she said over McKenzie’s head. ‘I don’t know how I could possibly thank you enough.’
He dismissed her words with a quick wave of his hand, grinning infectiously. ‘We have a great job, don’t we?’
Peyton grinned back, pride joining the conga line of feelings tromping around inside. The fact that he’d recognised he was a bigger part of a whole, a whole she was also part of, was something extra special in this moment. ‘Yes, we do.’
McKenzie squirmed and Peyton realised she was still holding her tight. ‘Sorry, darling.’ She lowered her to the floor and McKenzie went back to her puzzle as if nothing momentous had happened, and Peyton laughed again.
‘I like hearing you laugh,’ he murmured.
Peyton dragged her gaze away from her daughter, sobering a little. He was staring at her with an intenseness in thosevelvety depths that stopped the breath in her lungs. Her stomach muscles undulated as if he’d brushed seductive fingers against her belly.
‘It’s nice to have something to laugh about for once.’
‘Indeed,’ he agreed. ‘Shall we continue?’
Peyton drew in a sudden husky breath. ‘Please.’
That evening Peyton flopped down on her couch utterly exhausted. Who’d have thought excitement could wear you out? They’d spent the rest of the day at her parents’ place, watching McKenzie like a hawk, engaging her as much as possible, trying to gauge the extent of her new-found ability.
On the whole there were no major changes to indicate anything was different. McKenzie didn’t seem to respond to their voices, but Peyton had no doubt now that would come. Towards the end of their visit, however, McKenzie did, very obviously, hear the crash when her grandfather accidentally dropped a metal bowl on the kitchen floor, turning instantly towards the sound and running to the kitchen to check it out.
They spent a hilarious hour dropping as many non-breakables on the floor as possible and revelling in McKenzie’s amazed reactions. It was like watching her discover the world for the first time and Peyton seriously doubted she’d ever tire of it.
